Senran Kagura: Fuuma Okami-Ko
by darkcastchamp
Summary: All Shinobi know about the Legendary Hanzo Clan, Asuka's Shinobi lineage, members of the distinguished Iga Ninjas that worked for the first Shogun, Ieyasu Tokugawa. However, there was another infamous, ninja clan that modern shinobis believed to have been lost to history. All of it surrounding a new Shinobi who is now attending Hanzo Academy.
1. Chapter 1: Welcome to Hanzo

Chapter 1: Welcome to Hanzo

The clouds rolled by the bright blue sky overlooking the Main Building of Hanzo Academy. Looking up at it in amazement, with his magenta-colored eyes, was a young lad of around the short height of 5'2 with chestnut brown hair with orange dye covering the tips of his front bangs. He brushed off the wrinkles that was on his white, button-up, formal shirt that he was wearing along with a navy blue blazer and jeans for the Hanzo Uniform before beginning to walk on the school grounds. He looked around the main courtyard, being told that he was supposed to be meeting the teacher for his class out front.

Finally resting his eyes on the front entrance of the school, the boy could see him as clear as day, a man who seemed to be in his forties, wearing a complete, black uniform and jeans, and had silver, shaggy hair. "So, you must be Toru." The man smiled down at the boy. "My name is Kiriya. I'm going to be your teacher here at Hanzo Academy." The boy merely stayed silent as he looked up at Kiriya. "Hmmm…just as your parents said, you're not much of a talker." Kiriya continued. "Alright then, come along." Kiriya motioned, the two finally setting foot into the school.

The building was massive for a school as it seemed to have five floors instead of the traditional three floors that a normal school would have. Not only that, but it also has two other academic buildings on the school grounds and a sports field off to the side. Leading Toru down a series of halls, him and Kiriya soon sat their backs up against a wall before Kiriya banged a part of the wall behind them. Doing this, some kind of mechanism activated that made the wall rotate, taking the two to the heart of the TRUE Hanzo Academy. While it's true students attend the actual school, it is merely a front to hide what is really being taught to a handful of people who are chosen. The real students of Hanzo Academy are taught to become Shinobis, masters of stealth and assassination.

Taking a flight of wooden stairs after traversing through a room with many whirling, hand-made mechanisms, Kiriya opened up a door that led into what appeared to be a mixture of a lounge area and a classroom. As to be expected, it wasn't empty. "Kiriya-sensei's back!" An enthusiastic voice could be heard from in front of Kiriya that Toru couldn't see who it belonged to. "Welcome back sensei." Spoke a more demure voice.

"It's about time. I was starting to get bored." Came a spunky voice next.

"Welcome back…" After which was a quiet-like voice.

"Kiriya-sensei!" Finally a bubbly voice was yelled out. From what Toru noticed, they were all female voices. He tilted his head wondering who these people were so he finally stepped out to look.

The first girl he saw had almost golden like eyes and had extremely dark-brown hair that was tied up in a ponytail where the hanging hair was wild and two strands fell down the side of her head, one on each side. The main thing that caught his eye about her was the red, ninja scarf the girl wore around her neck. The second one looked more disciplined with her night-blue eyes and calf-length, black hair. The third one seemed to be giving Toru what he could only explain as a motor-enthusiast looking down a new car model with her emerald-green eyes while her knee-length, blonde hair flowed behind her. The fourth one didn't really seem all that interested in the situation as her one red eye looked away while the other was covered by an eyepatch, the strand wrapping her twin pigtail, silver hair where the pigtails hung in a curve down to her knees. The final girl, who had short, pink hair, was already in front of Toru's face as he looked right into her pink eyes, already seeing that there was something special about them since he could see a plus-sign-like symbol in each of her eyes. From seeing all five of the girls, there were two things that Toru noticed they all had in common. One, was that they all wore the same school uniform, wearing a white, button-up, formal shirt and navy-blue skirts. The second thing…all of their chests were massive for their age.

"Sensei, who's the new person here~!" The pink haired girl chimed out as she leaned forward, closer to Toru, forcing him to lean back some since she was in his personal space. "This, Hibari, is your new classmate." Kiriya smiled, placing his hand on Toru's left shoulder. This set of news only made the pink haired girl even more excitable, "A new student~! Did you hear that girls~?!"

"Heh, yes yes Hibari, we can all hear." The long, black haired girl chuckled.

"I much rather prefer girls, but I can't lie, he's kinda cute." The blonde one smirked, still giving Toru that stare he caught earlier.

"Everyone, this here is Toru. Now I expect you all to show him much welcome to our little school as he will now be joining you all in your overall quest down the path of a Shinobi." Kiriya announced. "Toru, these are your new classmates." He started moving his hand to each of the girls, starting with the one with pink hair, "You've already met Hibari." Next was the silver haired one, "This is Yagyu." Then he went to the blonde haired girl and the black haired girl, "Your seniors, Katsuragi and Ikaruga." And then finally his hand stopped on the dark-brown haired girl, "And finally, your squad leader, Asuka." Asuka walked over on that note and held her hand to Toru, "It's a pleasure to meet you Toru. I have a feeling you will be a great addition to the team." She smiled. Toru looked at her and then at her hand as he gently placed his left hand over top of the one that Asuka held out to him. "He um…doesn't talk much." Asuka frowned some.

"Is he a-" Ikaruga started before Kiriya waved his hand dismissively, "It's a long story, Ikaruga. And one that his parents told me not to mention until Toru is ready." Toru looked away as Kiriya was explaining this. Asuka held her hand over her mouth, "Oh dear…poor Toru."

"Well then, now that we got our introductions out of the way. It's time we get to our lessons." The girls groaned when Kiriya announced this as they all went to take their seat, the seat right next to Asuka, up front, being open to where Toru is supposed to sit. Plopping his small body into the chair, Toru placed his arms on the desk and rested his chin on top of them, looking over at Kiriya. "Now then, since we have a new Shinobi among our ranks, how about we do a little revision week?" Kiriya began, "But let's make this interesting. Since you girls have been doing this for some time now, I would like each of you to take over the role of teacher each day to teach Toru a lesson of your choosing. How does that sound?"

"That actually sounds pretty cool, sensei." Asuka spouted out.

"Hehe, maybe I can teach him some of my groping techniques~." Katsuragi chuckled as she snuck up behind Asuka and started to fondle her breasts. "Ah~! K-K-Katsu-nee, stop it~! Not in front of the new kid~!" Asuka squeaked out, moaning slightly. Kiriya smacked his ruler against the board, getting Katsuragi's attention and quickly making her sit back down. "Now then, first lesson is a basic history lesson." Kiriya spoke, making Katsuragi groan at the idea.

"Now, as everyone knows, Shinobis were used all the way back during the Feudal Era. With the influx of Western Culture, the Feudal system collapsed and Shinobis were thought to be a thing of the past. However, even though time has passed, the nature of business hasn't changed. There were those who needed the aid of the ones who dwelled in the darkness. It is at this point that the use of Shinobis has diverged into two paths, the path of righteousness and justice of the Good Shinobi, and the path of wickedness and deceit of the Evil Shinobi. We are those on the path of Good, doing what we believe is right and work for those who have a righteous cause." Kiriya explained. Toru seemed to have been the only one really listening since the other girls have already learned this history by heart. Asuka took a minute to look over at Toru, wondering if he was actually getting this. When she looked at him, she noticed that his magenta eyes were completely fixated on Kiriya, showing that he was listening to every detail of the tale her teacher was telling. Asuka soon looked away and leaned her head against her hand, dozing off into a daydream.

By the end of the class when the school's bells were ringing, Asuka jolted back up to attention as she looked back to see Toru was still paying attention, right down to the last minute. How does he do that? Asuka thought, looking to see that everyone else was preparing to leave. "Now, tomorrow Katsuragi will be taking the first lesson." All of the girls, except Katsuragi and Toru, leaped for a split second, looking at Kirya wide eyed. "Y-You sure that's a good idea, sensei?" Ikaruga asked, worried.

"Oh come on guys. I'm not gonna bite him too hard~." Katsuragi chuckled out.

"No complaints. Katsuragi will give Toru's first lesson tomorrow, starting off the revision week. Dismissed." Kiriya announced right when Toru got up to start walking out. "Eh, hey Toru?" Asuka called out, making the boy stop to look back. "Um, me and the girls usually all walk back together and head out to my Grandfather's sushi joint. Would you like to join us?" Toru just seem to look at her as his expression turned a little sad. He looked back to where he was walking and headed on out before anyone else could leave. "W-Was it something I said?" Asuka walked forward some, feeling a little guilty.

"Don't think about it too much, Asuka." Ikaruga comforted, "He literally just met us. My guess is, he's shy."

"I don't know…something about that boy rubs me the wrong way." Yagyu joined in on the conversation.

"Yagyu, you say that about everyone you meet." Katsuragi narrowed her eyes at her gloomy classmate. "To be honest, I'm more curious at what this boy can even do. I mean, he was sent here, one of the best Good Shinobi schools in Japan."

"You know, that's actually a well-made point Kat. I'm shocked." Ikaruga giggled out.

"Oi! What's that supposed to mean!?" Katsuragi lashed out, making the entire group laugh. Just outside the door, on the winding staircase to the classroom, Toru was standing against the wall, out of sight, listening in on their conversation. He gave out a sigh before continuing to walk on down the steps back to the rotating wall.


	2. Chapter 2: The First Lesson

Chapter 2: Okami-Ko

The girls were off chatting about with each other as they were approaching the doorway to the main room, unaware that Toru was already sitting at his desk. Having arrived about an hour earlier, Toru saw a writing on the chalkboard left by Kiriya that he would be gone for the following week dealing with personal business while the girls were teaching him his introductory lessons. The thing that worried Toru the most was if these girls were even ready to teach. A mind that came back to him as he look to see the conversating girls walking on into the room, talking and laughing about whatever it was they were telling each other about. Then again, they are school girls as well as Shinobis so it didn't bother Toru too much about their casual attitudes.

Katsuragi walked on over in front of Toru, leaning her hands against his desk and looking down at him with playful smirk, "Alright then Toru, ready for your first lesson?" She said, trying to apparently hype the boy up. Toru just looked up at her and nodded, a little skeptical about what her lesson would be. Responding to his nod, Katsuragi pressed a switch that opened up a trap door at the front of the class. "Alright then, let's go!" She urged before jumping into the hole, being followed by Ikaruga, Yagyu, and Hibari, only leaving Asuka behind with silent newcomer. "Don't worry Toru, she ran by me what she would be teaching you so it'll be alright." Asuka smiled down at Toru, only getting the same, sad expression that he gave her yesterday as well. It left Asuka completely confused why he keeps looking at her like that even after Toru jumped down before her.

The trap door seemed to curve out into some sort of slide as it looped and curved all around an underground passageway before something opened up, revealing a bright light. Toru shot right out from a concealed hole in the ground that was in the center of the school's soccer field. Left surprised by this, Toru landed front first onto the grass field, groaning out while he turned over on his back. "Come on Toru, we can't start the lesson if you're on the ground." Katsuragi laughed, crouching down right behind Toru's head and leaning over to look straight down. Toru's eyes narrowed as he seemed to have been annoyed by her comment.

Toru and Katsuragi faced each other on the soccer field where the other girls were sitting on the bleachers. "Alright then, Tor-Tor, your first lesson is basic sparring!" Katsuragi announced, getting into a fighting stance, wearing her signature gauntlet boots. "Well, it was nice knowing him." Yagyu muttered out.

"Y-Yagyu-chan." Ikaruga sneered.

"What? It's true. Katsuragi has more experience than him."

"At least give him the benefit of the doubt."

Seeing Katsuragi readying up for a fight, Toru reached his hands behind his back and pulled out dual sickles with a long chain connecting the two. "Wow, that's a very traditional weapon." Ikaruga looked at the weapon in interest.

"What?" Asuka looked over at her student senior.

"Well, back when ninjas were first developed there were five basic weapons, the ninjato, the bow, shurikens, poison, and then finally the kusarigama, the same weapon that Toru there is using." Ikaruga explained. "I'm rather impressed. Out of all of the basic ninja weapon, the kusarigama was the most advanced weapon to learn, but if you know how to adapt with its great use of distance, one can be very deadly with it.

Showing what Ikaruga was talking about, Toru started the fight with throwing one of his sickles towards Katsuragi. She easily dodged to the left, "Come on Toru, you're not gonna do well if your attacks are that obvious." She teased. Still holding onto the chain, Toru pulled back on it. Katsuragi heard a split shearing sound, immediately ducking only for the sickle that Toru threw at her to come back with Toru catching it. "Ah! Th-That's awesome!" Hibari yelled out with her and Asuka showing very ecstatic faces about Toru and his fighting style. Ikaruga and Yagyu though held back on statements for now.

"Whew, that was a close one. Guess I shouldn't be cocky with you, Tor-Tor." Katsuragi giggled as she was lightly weaving around, getting herself warmed up. Toru responded by dashing towards her, waving his chain around and making the sickles move all around at Katsuragi. Katsuragi weaved pass all of his attacks, making little mocking gestures like yawning and picking her ear with ear pinky. Her attitude was definitely starting to make Toru more and more frustrated, making him hold one of his sickles by the handle and swung the other one in a huge area in front of him, using all of the chain's length. Katsuragi seemed to have disappeared though when Toru performed this move, making him look around in confusion. A shadow loomed over Toru enough for him to realize where she was as he held his weapon up to block a strong, axe kick from Katsuragi who flipped back after her attack being blocked. Not letting up, she dashed right after Toru, putting the boy on the defensive with blocking and dodging her quick and deadly kicks, showing that he was having a hard time in keeping up. He tried to jump back to gain some distance, but Katsuragi eagerly followed after, keeping up her assault.

"Hold on, Toru can be able to use all types of ranges with that weapon. How is he being pushed back so easily?" Hibari asked in naivety. Ikaruga shook her head, "True, the kusaragami is useful in all ranges, giving the user a huge adaptive range, but when it comes to the close combat range, Kat has the edge. Out of all of the kusaragami's range, the close range one is the weakest due to having to rely on the short handled sickles for combat. Between the two's weapons, Kat's gauntlets just has more reach. So in order to give himself the advantage, Toru is trying to create distance between himself and Kat. However, Kat's speed isn't allowing Toru to get that distance. So it's only a matter of time," Katsuragi ducked under one of Toru's slices and kicked upwards, knocking Toru's weapon out of his hands, "Until Toru loses." Ikaruga finished.

Toru could suddenly feel a strange sensation, one that made his eyes widen and even forced out a yelp from his mouth. Katsuragi had one of her hands gripped on Toru's groin. "Hahaha~! Such fire~. I like it when there's fire behind my opponent's eyes. However," Katsuragi's gripped making Toru's eyes widened more and his mouth gaping. "There's such thing as having too much fire, enough to make a person blind with rage in a fight. That's what placed you in the disadvantage you were in for the last part of this fight."

"Oh." Ikaruga realized, finally understanding Katsuragi's moral to this lesson.

"There will be times when your opponent will try to play mind games with you to force you into making mistakes, whether it's intellectual distractions or playful distractions like I did. You need to keep a focused and concentrated mind if you want to be a good Shinobi. If you do this, you're more likely to make less mistakes in your future fights." On that note, Katsuragi released Toru's manhood and gave it a quick pat, making Toru yelp and hold it cover it, blushing, "Alright then, lesson over~! I think today was a good day." Katsuragi smiled, heading on back into the school. The others followed on after, but Ikaruga decided to walk beside Toru. "She may be a perverted mess," Toru looked up to Ikaruga after hearing her speak, "But she's here just like the rest of us. She wants to be a Shinobi." Ikaruga placed her hand on the top of Toru's head. "If you follow our lessons we'll be teaching you, you'll be on your way to being a great Shinobi as well. I promise."


	3. Chapter 3: Overcoming Weakness

Chapter 3: Overcoming Weakness

Toru opened the door up to the classroom only to see that the room was pitch-black. The only light source in the room were lit candles that were formed in a circle, showing two cushion mats in the center of that formation. One of which was already taken up, "Please come in Toru." Ikaruga called out. She was sitting down, criss-crossed, on her cushion, hands on her knees, and her eyes closed. Toru did as she asked and sat down, criss-crossed as well, on the empty cushion. He was looking around the room, trying to see if this was a test and thought the other girls would attack him. "They're out on a mission. All you need right now is silence." Ikaruga stated.

"Yesterday, Kat worked on physical training with you, telling you what you should focus on when fighting an opponent. Today, I will be working with you on mental training, telling you what you SHOULDN'T be focusing on while fighting. Can you tell me what you shouldn't be thinking about while fighting?" Ikaruga opened her eyes slightly to look at Toru who sat there, in front of her, silent. "…I um…guessed as much?" Ikaruga tilted her head, forgetting that he couldn't talk. "Um, ahem. The answer is nothing." Toru blinked, listening to Ikaruga.

"Yes Toru, nothing. That should be what a Shinobi should be thinking about twenty-four seven. If there was ever an exception to think about something, it would be the mission, that's it." Toru looked he couldn't comprehend what she was saying. Thinking is a human function. How could he just stop doing that? "I understand your confusion, but the truth is, we are being trained as killers. In the end, we all will have to throw away our ideals, views, and even emotions, for the only person whose ideals, views, and emotions we care about are the clients'. It is a sad truth, but a truth none the less." After Ikaruga explained, Toru sighed out, looking at her like he already knows this. "You must still be wondering why you're here then if you already know this. For each shinobi, we all have a reason for wanting to be one. Most of the time…those reasons are tragic or scarring." Ikaruga glared right over at Toru who's eyes widened in response and leaned back some as if to try and distance himself from her gaze. "I'm sure you are one of those people with said reason. It must be why you are unable to talk. Am I correct." Toru slowly closed his eyes some, looking away to side, wearing a sad guise. "I thought as much." Ikaruga sighed.

"Toru, these candles were made to help a person try and focus on a certain memory. The memory I want you to work on, is the reason why you can't talk, the reason why you became a shinobi. Do you think you can do that for me?" Ikaruga leaned over to look Toru in his eyes. He slowly, and hesitantly, nodded his head. "Alright then, close your eyes. Focus on that memory. Overcome it and you will be ever so closer to the title of Kagura." Toru stared down at the ground, at a candle that was in between him and Ikaruga. After staring at it for a while, his eyes slowly closed as if he was going into a deep sleep.

Right now, all he could see was black, not even the light from the candles could illuminate on his eyelids. Everything was silent. Slowly as if rising from an unknown the sounds of screaming could be heard as it was slowly getting louder and louder. As it was getting loud, a flame seemed to have ignited from the darkness. Toru opened his eyes only to see that he was in the middle of a burning village. People were running around all over in every which direction only for shadowy figures to leap into the middle of a crowd and start slicing and cutting people down with swords, screams of pain and suffering echoing even louder. Trying to escape from this vision, Toru held his head and closed his eyes until the silence eventually returned. Opening his eyes once more, Toru now noticed he was standing in the middle of a field of corpses, making his breathing heavy into panting. Looking in front of him, the quick slice of a sword could be seen coming at him.

Toru awoke for real, hearing the voice of Ikaruga, "Toru! Toru are you okay?!" She was shaking his shoulders before his eyes opened, making her look down in relief that he responded to her. Toru noticed that he was still panting heavily, like he was still in that same situation from the vision. His heart was racing and he felt some sweat rolling down his forehead. After seconds have passed, tears started to roll down Toru's face and he started to lightly cry. Shocked, Ikaruga held him close, the fact that he was still a kid hitting her hard, emotionally. "Oh god Toru, I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry." She ran her hand through his hand trying to calm him down. "Th-This lesson is never easy for anyone to pass. To be honest, it takes shinobi years to overcome these kinds of things…I'm still trying to myself." Toru's eyelids snapped open, hearing her say this. "I-I'm from a wealthy family. Not to mention I'm the heir to said family. Usually some people would feel blessed to be a part of something like that." Ikaruga started to tell. "But…the reality is I was adopted into that family…and they already had a kid too. The fact that a person, not even blood related to the family, has become the heir of such a family…it makes you think about how that biological child felt, being older and actually having the parents' blood flowing through them…" Toru felt something wet drip onto the top of his head. "A-And…you try and understand how much hatred that sibling has for you that you even try to recompense with them…that…that's my curse…that's my scar, to know that my life, my existence, is the sole reason why someone else's is miserable…" Hearing Ikaruga sniff and rest her face on top of his head, Toru slowly wrapped his arms around her side and placed his head on her shoulder, hugging her back.


	4. Chapter 4: All About Surprise

Chapter 4: All About Surprise

Requested by Yagyu, Toru's lesson from her will be taking place at the school at night. No bystanders, no means of security, or, as Toru was thinking, no witnesses for whatever horrors she was about to put him through. It was very hard for him to see anything in the hallways, the only light he has was the twilight gleams from the moon that illuminated through the school's windows. Even then, he could still be legally blind. It wasn't long until Toru could feel something run along his ankle, something squishy and wet. Toru gasped, jumping back up against the hallway's wall, holding his chest with one of his hands.

16 hours earlier; Toru's Room; 6:30 AM

Feeling the beams of the sun hit his eyelids; Toru slowly woke up for his magenta irises to gleam in the sunlight. Sitting up, he would gently rub his eyes trying to get the exhaustion out of his system. When he got up to get his clothes though, there was a letter on his dresser the opening of the letter faced towards him as the seal on it seemed to be a symbol of a squid. Taking it, he flipped it over to see that the letter from Yagyu. Toru felt his skin pale slightly since his impressions of the girl weren't all that positive from how she acts towards him.

"Idiot."

"Hot-head."

"Slack."

Those were only some of the words that he could remember her saying to him off the top of his head. Seeing this letter only confirmed Toru's thoughts from earlier…Yagyu was going to giving him the lesson today.

Toru would finally open up the letter to pull out the piece of paper and read her message:

To the Idiot,

I hope you're not getting too comfortable here at the school. Today is where things will get serious. Don't even bother coming to school today since what I'll be teaching will need the cover of night. So, I suggest you take this time to prepare yourself. I'll be teaching the most important thing a shinobi needs to learn about. If you can't even learn this lesson then just go ahead and give up now.

-Yagyu

Charming as always. Toru's eyes narrowed, looking up, after he finished reading the letter.

Present; Hanzo Academy; 10:00 PM

With his heart racing thrice as fast than it was when he woke up, Toru snuck along the wall leaning around the corner of the hallway to look around it. When his eyes gazed down the hallway, two gleams flashed in an instant before he had to duck back away from two kunai knives flying through where his head once was and right into the wall that laid before him. He was quickly discovering about how serious Yagyu can be. "This is the reason why I wanted it to take place at this time, you slacker. You can barely even see from where I'm attacking." Yagyu's voice echoed throughout the hallways. "The number one skill that any shinobi should master is stealth. Not just mastering it yourself, but also seeing through your enemy's. If you can't even be able to do this then you have no right to call yourself a shinobi or even deserve to be one. This will be a make or break lesson. So, show me what you can do."

Toru could hear five more whizzing sounds. He rolled out of the way to the side, just barely dodging five kunai, one grazing his right leg, as they all stuck into the wall he was just up against. Now running down the hallway, the young shinobi was trying to think of ways in how to escape from her sight. It wasn't long until Toru felt something wrap around his right ankle, making him fall over on the ground. It was that same, squishy, wet feeling he felt from earlier and finally having a chance to look back, he saw that it was an aqua-blue, squid tentacle. It began to drag him away as he was trying to crawl away. Seeing as its grip was strong, Toru had to reach for his sickle and slice at the tentacle, making it evaporate into a blue mist. He was now surrounded by this blue fog, making his visibility of the area even worse.

Looking around aimlessly, Toru started to be assaulted from attacks everywhere around him, feeling fists, kicks, and the tip of an umbrella beating his body up to a pulp. One last kick was sent into Toru's chest, sending him flying down the hallway and out of the mist. Gripping his chest in pain, Toru looked up to see Yagyu slowly walking out from the mist and stopping to look down at him, "Pathetic…when being a shinobi you must always have a contingency plan. Even then, you must think farther, have a contingency plan for your first contingency plan, or even think of contingency plans to counteract your enemy's contingency plan." She finished up by pointing the tip of her umbrella out at Toru, triumphantly. Her eye would soon gaze down at Toru's weapon, noticing something was…off. "Wait…wasn't there a chain attached to-"

Toru pulled his hand back, grabbing on something, making a clinging sound happen all around Yagyu, who would find herself upside down within the next second, a chain wrapped around her ankles, "What?!" When she looked back over to Toru, he was gone.

Yagyu took the blades out from her umbrella to cut her down, but she couldn't believe that she was duped too easily, "Dammit, he purposefully let me beat him around so he could drop my guard!...Very clever for a slacker." She eventually smiled, starting to walk down the stairway, the only place Toru could run off too.

Yagyu came upon the front lobby of the school where the lockers were. "No…he may be an idiot, but he can't be THAT of an idiot." Before she was about to go, she heard a slight bang from one of the lockers, making her eye narrow, "Or maybe he is." Walking over to the locker, she faced it with her arms crossed underneath her bosom. "Okay idiot, come out now." No response came from the locker, but then again, Toru is a mute. "Alright then…Game Over." She announced before opening the door.

From the locker a bright flash shone upon Yagyu, making her one, good eye's iris shrink, "Ah!" She covered it up, being temporarily blinded from the trap. Before she had the chance to recover, she could feel her body tackled to one of the lockers and something cold and sharp against her neck. Once Yagyu could see again, she was looking down at Toru with his sickle blade against her neck with the look to kill in his eyes. "Go ahead…do it…" Yagyu challenged him, feeling the blade shake near her neck because of Toru's hand. Giving up, Toru pulled back, giving the two some space. "Pathetic…showing mercy to your enemy. A shinobi needs to kill." Yagyu lectured, making Toru look down in regret.

"But…I guess we all have a hard time with that one. Even me…" Yagyu stated, making Toru look back up at her. "You passed…go home and sleep already." Yagyu walked past Toru to head on out of the door, leaving Toru with a slightly better impression on miss ice queen.


	5. Chapter 5: Take It Back a Bit

Chapter 5: Take It Back a Bit

Out of all of the lessons that Toru had to encounter so far with each of his lessons, he either had to face against something physically challenging, mentally challenging, or sadly both from the last occasion. However, for this day he felt ready. He had his kusaragami strapped and ready to pull out. He even had some sub weapons as well to give him a hand like kunais, needles, and even a folded up wind shuriken. Yeah, Toru feels like a Shinobi Swiss Knife. But when he walked in, ready for something challengingly provoking, he came upon…something else.

"Oh, To-tan, there you are~!" Hibari was sitting down on a picnic blanket in the middle of the room where sitting right next to her was Yagyu, glaring over at Toru. He paled slightly from this stare, wondering what the heck he did to wrong her this time. "Yagyu-chan, you already did your lesson with him yesterday, now it's my turn." Hibari whined.

"Ngh, Hibari-chan it's not you I'm worried about, it's the boy. Who knows what he could do to someone as innocent as you." Yagyu argued. Hibari merely stared at Yagyu, "…He's thirteen!" She argued back. With this, Hibari held up Yagyu and started to pat her out of the classroom. "Eh! H-Hibari?!"

"Out! Out! Out!" After finally closing the door on Yagyu, Hibari sighed out with the usual smile she had eventually returning to her face. "Sorry about that, To-tan. Yagyu is just reaaaaaaally overprotective of me." She giggled. "Come on, sit." She requested after doing so herself.

Dreadfully confused about this situation, Toru was actually thinking this must be some sort of trap since he just saw Yagyu here. Deciding to play along, Toru sat down right in front of Hibari, never taking his eyes off of her. "Caramel?" She asked. Toru's eyes blinked slightly before looking down to see she was handing him a caramel cube. Looking back up at Hibari, skeptically, Toru slowly took the caramel cube. Looking at it all around, he would eventually sniff it, making Hibari laugh aloud, "Silly! You're not supposed to sniff it! You're supposed to eat it, like this~!" Hibari took the caramel cube out from Toru's hands and cheerfully ate it in one bite, munching on it with joy. Okay…so it wasn't poisoned.

Toru just didn't know what to call out from this. She's being generally nice to him and not tiring him in any kind of extraneous way like the other three did. What was her game? He was thinking. "Tea~?" She offered again, snapping Toru out of his deep thinking to see her hold out a cup filled with cherry flavored tea to him. "I heard from Kiriya that you loved tea so I had Ikaruga help me make some." She placed the cup of tea in the still wary Toru's hands. Seeing as though that Hibari actually DID eat the caramel cube, Toru finally gave her the benefit of the doubt. Hesitantly, tilting the cup to his lips, Toru took a little sip from the tea, keeping his eyes closed tightly for the taste of purple death to overtake. Except, all he could taste, though, was the taste of sweet, ripe cherry. Finally having a drink of this, his magenta eyes seemed to have brightened, almost looking like they turned pink…and not in that sort of way for you Doujinshi readers.

"Do you like it?" Hibari poked only for Toru to nod his head quickly with a bright smile on his face. He started to feel like his age, which was the least he could say for the last couple. After a while, sadly, his bright expression soon went to a sulky tone, looking up at Hibair. "Huh? Wh-What is it, To-tan?" Hibari hated to see people looking sad. It was like her kryptonite or something.

Toru looked down at his cup and then at all of the sweets that Hibari had laid out on the blanket, still keeping that same face. "You're…wondering why I'm doing all of this, aren't you?" She finally pried out, Toru nodding for comfirmation of his thoughts. "Well…Ikaruga told me about what happened with your guys' lesson and well, Yagyu told me about her lesson with you as well. The truth is, we're still technically kids, Toru. Eventually, we do have to take up our duties as shinobis one day. So until then," Hibari held out another caramel cube for Toru. "We should try and enjoy our childhood to the fullest and be happy with the friends we have right now. Take rests from time to time and just have days where you don't have to worry about the harshness of reality…ok, To-tan?" Having been hanging on every single words of hers, Toru nodded with deep understanding, this time actually taking the caramel cube and happily munched on it like Hibari did earlier, making her laugh.

Somewhere in Tokyo; Nara Enterprises

A figure was sitting down in a dark lit office, looking out the wide-framed window as his phone's machine's started to beep. Pressing the red button on it, he answered, "What is it?..." Answering him from the phone was the voice of a very mature sounding woman…and yes, this time it is that way, Doujinshi readers.

"Sir, your nine o'clock is here." She informed.

"Oh right…send him in." The figure turned off the machine afterwards as the double doors leading into the office opened up abruptly. Standing before the entrance, with the light from outside room shining on him, was a rather tanned man with slicked back, red hair. His clothes seemed very yakuza-esque wearing a Great White Shark skin jacket with an unbuttoned, red, formal shirt underneath showing off his abs and chest, matching, grey jeans, and crocodile skin shoes. "Nice of you to finally come here, Yahiko." The figure spoke, not once turning his chair around to face his guest.

"Finally come here?" The red haired male, Yahiko, raised an eyebrow right before he snapped, "YOU were the one who wanted to talk to ME! Yet for SOME reason I had to be the one who MAKES the damn appointment with YOU!"

"Excuse me for being a very busy person and I'll excuse for forgetting who exactly you're talking to…" The figure's voice grew very ominous and menacing, making Yahiko grumble and fix up his outfit from his little fit.

"Alright, I guess you might as well tell me whatever it is. I've got stuff to do myself." Yahiko tried to change the subject.

"I believe I have found you the perfect candidates of your little…hobby." The figure started. Hearing this seemed to have made Yahiko smirk as a little twitch of appeared in one of his dark-brown eyes, "Do tell, sir."

"Tell me, Yahiko…have you ever heard of the Shinobis for hire, the Crimson Squad?"


	6. Chapter 6: Yell It Out

Chapter 6: Yell It Out

Today was finally the day. It's the last day of Toru's introductory lessons, his last lesson being given by his soon-to-be squad leader, Asuka. Much like she is every day, Asuka was awaiting eagerly in the classroom, sitting down on one of the desks and talking with the other girls. When Toru walked in, all eyes were on him, but it wasn't like the first day he came in. The stares that girls gave him were like they were already accepting him as their new teammate. Even Yagyu seemed okay with that idea now. Toru did leave an impression on each of them, even on Asuka before the lesson even started. Speaking of which.

"Alright Toru, ready for your last introductory lesson?" Asuka pumped her fist, trying to inspire exhilaration inside of the young shinobi. Toru merely nodded before Asuka ran on over to the door that Toru just went through. "Come on! For this lesson, we're going to go on the rooftop."

"Asuka, would you like us to come along as well?" Ikaruga offered.

"No need to, Ikarga-senpai. Toru needs extreme focus for this one." Asuka replied.

"Mmmm…are you sure he's ready for this part though?" Ikaruga asked, concerned.

"Positive. From what you guys have told me from each lesson, I can tell that Toru has potential to finally try and utilize is first Shinobi Art." Asuka praised. Toru couldn't believe what he was hearing. A Shinobi Art is a shinobi's strongest form of attack that calls upon their inner strength to perform it. Not to mention Toru has to be in his Transofrmation, something that he doesn't exactly enjoy doing because of the process. Either way, it was Asuka's lesson. Toru wants to try his best all the way.

Toru followed his leader up and out onto the Hanzo Academy rooftop, that had a big enough area to practice this sort of technique. "Alright then, you only have one goal for this lesson. Perform your Shinobi Art one time. Doesn't sound too hard right?" Asuka was trying to be encouraging, but Toru merely just groaned because he knew what was coming up. "Now then, how about we get you in your Transformation outfit?" When she said that, Toru groaned again, this time even louder than before. "Eh…everything ok Toru?" Toru shook his head in response. "Do you not like your Shinobi Transformation?" He then gave one, giant nod in response.

"But Toru, how are you going to learn how to use your Shinobi Arts without transforming?" Toru looked up at Asuka and crossed his arms with frustration. "What?! Don't tell you're not going to do it." With this, Toru placed himself down on the concrete flooring, sitting firmly. "No, no, no, no, don't do this, Toru!" Asuka begged. "L-Learning to do this will help make you even stronger, and-"

"Asuka! Auka!" Running up onto the rooftop with Asuka and Toru was Katsuragi, having a look of intensity on her face. "News just came in from Kiriya-sensei. There's trouble going on over at the West District Park."

"Trouble? What kind of trouble?" Asuka inquired.

"Yakuzas are purposefully attacking people out in the open."

"Wait, what? Shouldn't that be the police's concern?"

"That's the thing. I heard that Homura and their group are on the job." Ikaruga finally mentioned.

"Are you serious?!" Asuka jumped forward, hearing about her rival.

"Yes. Our mission is to observe the Crimson Squad in their fight against the Yakuzas and ONLY get involved if they do anything that is seemed irrationally dangerous." Ikaruga explained.

"Don't expect anything in-irrational from Homura." Asuka groaned as the two were about to head when Toru was about to run out with them. Asuka immediately put her hand in front of Toru's face. "Sorry Toru, but Kiriya-sensei specifically said that you won't be going on any missions until you finish your introductory lessons. And from how you've been treating this one, you're not done yet." Toru couldn't believe what he was hearing. Just because he didn't want to transform means he's being benched from the mission? "Now, go wait in the classroom. Me and the others will be back later." With that, Ikaruga and Asuka leaped over the rooftop railing to head on to their mission destination, leaving Toru behind with an anxious and frustrated look.

Meanwhile in West District Park

"CRIMSON FANG!" A group of Yakuza grunts were sent flying into trees, benches, and trash cans as standing before them was a tan skinned girl with long black hair tied up in a ponytail and dark-blue eyes wearing a one piece, black dress and skirt and a red ribbon underneath a white collar with a grey jacket overtop all of it. In her hands she held six swords total, three in each hand. "This is what happens when you piss me off, you bastards!" She yelled out. Off to the side, a girl with short, neck length, crescent trimmed from the back, green hair wearing an extremely short, yellow top with black lines all over it and torn up, blue jeans knocked away some more enemies. "Homura…it was kinda smart not bringing the others with us. That would kind of be overkill…" The green haired girl commented, gazing at the black haired girl, Homura, with her piercing, yellow, snake eyes.

"Yeah, this is just easy money from the police, Hikage." Homura laughed.

Up on the rooftop, overlooking the park, Asuka and the other girls were laying low, watching after Homura and the green haired girl, Hikage. "Well…it doesn't seem like they're not doing anything wrong." Asuka observed.

"We should keep watching until they leave." Ikaruga referred.

Back down in the park, one of the Yakuza grunts knocked away by Homura struggled in getting and started to run away. While trying, he accidentally bumped into the massive man that was Yahiko, who seemed to be the leader of this Yakuza group. "B-B-Boss!" The grunt called out, "I'm so glad you-" Yahiko back-handed the grunt again into another grunt that was smashed into a tree. "Useless…the whole bunch of ya. Once this is over, I'm firing you all and hiring new guys just to kill you useless runts." Yahiko sneered, resting a Kanabo (Japanese Battle Rod) on his right shoulder.

"Heh, not one for failure, huh?" Homura leered over at Yahiko, not one to appreciate disrespect to one's allies.

"As a Yakuza boss, I expect results and successes or else one won't survive long in this world. I'm sure you understand the most, Homura of the Crimson Squad." Yahiko smirked.

"H-How do you know who we are?" Homura stepped back a little, readying her swords.

"A group of Shinobis, forced to flee from their old school from not wanting to become one with the Great Yoma, Orochi, and now forced to take on oddjobs just so they could put food in their stomachs." Yahiko lectured. "I would actually feel sympathy if it weren't for the fact you were Evil Shinobis."

"So, you know about the Shinobi world. Guess that only means you're a Shinobi yourself, huh?" Homura called out.

"Heh, ex-Good Shinobi in fact." Yahiko admitted.

"Oh shit!" Katsuragi gasped back up on the rooftop, "Guys, I know who that is! That's Yahiko, a rogue Shinobi who used to be a part of the Saizo Ninja Academy, until his entire team was wiped out by Evil Shinobis and the Shinobi Council wouldn't do anything as recompense. Now he'll kill any Evil Shinobi and will eliminate any Good Shinobi who gets in his way."

"Wh-What is a person like him doing with people like the Yakuza?!" Hibari panicked.

"Probably selling his talents to the highest bidder, becoming worse then what he wants to kill." Yagyu bashed.

"I'll show you!" Homura, with swords ready, dashed forward at Yahiko with lightning fast speed, moving to perform multiple slashes at Yahiko who would side step every single slash of Homura's, stepping right behind her after her last, making her stumble some. "What's wrong? That chest of yours making you lose your balance?" Yahiko insulted. Fuming mad, Homura tried going for the first, Horizontal slash of her Crimson Fang, "Hidden Nin- Gh!" Homura's face was grabbed by Yahiko's right hand and her wrist gripped by his left hand, stopping her attack. Taking her by full force with his hand on her face, Yahiko lifted Homura up by just that and slammed her into the ground. "Homura!" Hikage leaped over at an attempt to assist her leader only to get a big boot to the stomach from the Yakuza boss. Asuka was just trying her best to keep her anger held in. Even though Homura was Asuka's rival, she was still Asuka's friend. "Dammit! We have to-"

"Asuka, our orders were to just observe Homura's group! We were told not to engage." Ikaruga reminded Asuka.

"Don't worry Asuka, I know how you feel…" Katsuragi growled, gritting her teeth down.

Lifting up his Kanabo, Yahiko was ready to slam the tip of it right into Homura's stomach while his right foot was slowly pressing down on Hikage's neck, making her gag and squirm underneath. "This was too easy…and here my client told me you guys were actually a threat. Hehe…sayonara." Just as he was about to slam his weapon down, Yahiko heard a shearing sound from behind, stepping away just in time, only for his cheek to be sliced by a passing blade from a sickle. Tumbling over in front was Toru with his Kusarigama in hand.

"Toru!? Wh-What is he doing here?!" Asuka yelled out. His interference was enough, though, to make Yahiko's foot move up enough from Hikage's throat so she could roll away along with Homura recovering to move as well, favoring her head some. "Grrr…thanks kid. I thought we were goners there for the moment." Homura smiled, thanking Toru who just gave a nod in return.

Yahiko was now annoyingly pissed, glaring down at the three heroes, but surprisingly smirks as he saw Toru, "Well…well, well, well…who'd have thought I'd see you of all people here." Asuka and the others on the rooftop were completely taken back, "Wait…how does guy know Toru?" Yagyu was the first to question. Toru glared up at Yahiko, still brandishing his Kusarigama.

"Heh…silent, just as I heard. Well, lucky me today." Yahiko now readied up his Kanabo with light-brown aura beginning to emanate from him. "I get to massacre three Evil Shinobis today!"


	7. Chapter 7: Shinobi of Earth

Chapter 7: Shinobi of Earth

"Toru!" Asuka leaped off from the building that the Hanzo girls were on top of and used miniature, shinobi kite she had to glide and land her over to where Toru, Homura, and Hikage were.

"Asuka?! What the hell are you doing here?!" Homura snipped at her rival, completely forgetting about the enemy at hand.

"No time to talk about that, Homura!" Asuka now turned her attention to Toru who did everything he could to keep his eyes averted from hers. "Toru, you were supposed to stay at the school! That was an order from me, your squad leader! Why did you disobey?!"

"Aaaaawe, did the little ninja feel like he was being left out? Hah." Yahiko chuckled, making Toru growl at him. "My, my, aren't you a little wolf boy? Or should I say wolf pup?" It didn't take long for Toru to leap over at Yahiko with Kusarigama in hands only to be backhanded back in front of Asuka and them by Yahiko. "Sit…" Yahiko insulted.

"Toru!" Asuka dropped down to hold up her classmate as he tried to struggle to his feet, "D-Don't get up. We'll handle this."

"Oh, you'll "handle" me, won't you?" Yahiko continued talking smarmy.

"Don't underestimate us, dick-head!" Homura cursed, readying up an attack, "Hikage, with me!"

"Right…" Both Hikage and Homura now went to attack Yahiko using each other's attacks as openings for the other to keep on the assault to not give Yahiko any time to counterattack. Yahiko merely weaved and blocked with the handle of his Kanabo, stepping back from each attack that they threw at him. Yahiko soon gripped onto Hikage's wrist, that was holding her knife, from one of the attacks and whipped her around into Homura, knocking both of them down. "You two have been mildly amusing, but all good things must come to an end." He was ready to finish both of them with one swing when Asuka stabbed one of her blades into his arm, "Homura, Hikage, run!" Asuka yelled before Yahiko's arm bashed right into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her and her sword still inside of Yahiko's arm. Toru gasped and his eyes widened at his leader getting thrashed back onto the park floor. When Toru tried to move, the pain from Yahiko's hit made Toru fall right back to the floor.

"Asuka!" Yahiko looked up to witness the rest of Asuka's group landing to join the fray. Ikaruga ran over to help her friend up off of the ground, "You ok?" Asuka gave a cough after Ikaruga asked, "I-I took worse." Asuka smiled. Yahiko seemed like he was getting even more pissed off now, "You know, I'm starting to get tired having to play with you kiddies. Just stay out of my way and let me kill these Evil Shinobi." Katsuragi was just glaring down Yahiko, making his eyes shift slightly, "The hell are you looking at, blondie?"

"Is your name…Dino?" Katsuragi asked. Yahiko's lips slowly curved into a smirk, "Wow, talk about nostalgia. Haven't heard my Shinobi name in forever."

"Wait, Dino? As in Dino of Saizo?" Ikaruga eyed over at Yahiko, her pupils shrinking in shock and her grip tightening on her sword, Hien. "Who is this guy?" Hibari whimpered, getting a good look at this guy's aura.

"Daidouji told me about this guy." Katsuragi held her hands up, ready for a fight.

"Daidouji? Hah, how is the tiger kitten doing?" Yahiko chuckled, scratching at his chin. "Last time I saw her she was just a new blood. Heard from the grape vine that she's a force to be reckoned with now?"

"You're telling me that this guy was her senpai?" Yagyu asked, not wanting to take her eyes off of him.

"Only by sheer respect." Katsuragi tried to soften the news, but the fact still stood that this guy was respected by Daidouji when she was just starting at Hanzo. "We may be in trouble."

"Ngh…so what?" Homura scowled as her and Hikage got up. "So you're saying this guy is really strong? Heh, we've taken on stronger before. This guy won't be any different." Yahiko raised one of his eyebrows and finally sighed out, "I guess there's no use beating around the bush anymore…" He held both of his hands over the pommel of his Kanabo as he held it straight into the ground, "I'm going to have to kill all of you…" In an instant, his light brown aura started to go out of control almost as if it was trying to force the girls down onto their knees.

"Damn! What is this power?!" Katsuragi yelled out. Yahiko whammed one of his palms into the pommel of his Kanabo, forcing the top part that was in the ground to slam into the earth, making some cracks into it. After that, Katsuragi was sent flying across the park via Earth mound to the stomach. "Bastard!" Yagyu called out, unfolding her umbrella and the blades that were hidden within it, only for Yahiko to block it with his left arm and the sleeves of his jacket to get torn up by Yagyu's umbrella blades. After slicing through the sleeves, her weapon started producing sparks when it should be slashing at Yahiko's bare skin. "What's going on?!" Yagyu was startled to see that Yahiko's entire left arm was encased in what seemed to some kind of Earth-like armor. Grinning widely, Yahiko forced his arm out to knock Yagyu's umbrella out of her hand followed by a quick jab to Yagyu's face, sending her back as well. "Yagyu-chan!" Hibari ran over to support her friend, leaving only Ikaruga and Asuka left.

"You lot really didn't expect to beat me, did you? Back when I was a Good Shinobi, I was granted the scroll of the Armadillo due to my expertise with self-Earth Ninpos. No one could lay a blade on me…sadly…" Yahiko's eyes seemed to have gotten more intense and filled with anger, "It couldn't protect those I considered my friends. Those damn, Evil Shinobis slaughtered every single one of my teammates from Saizo…and what did my teacher tell me? He told me to not take vengeance for them! Almost as if he wanted me to forget their sacrifice! It was at that moment I knew I couldn't get what I wanted with the Good Shinobi. So after that realization, I swore an oath to kill every single one of those Evil Shinobi, down to even the last infant born with Evil Shinobi blood in them." Yahiko clenched his fist before letting out an insane laughter, "But I'm glad I left the Good Shinobi when I could! I mean look at you guys now, letting Evil Shinobis attend your school now?!"

"What are you talking about?!" Asuka lashed out.

"…You mean, you don't know? Hehe…hehehe…hahahahahahahaha!" Yahiko held his face as he continued to let out his insane laughing.

"I've heard enough out of you! Oukaesen!" Ikaruga slashed out her sword while a bright, blue flame ignited from the blade and sent out a flame bird straight at Yahiko, causing a fiery explosion on impact. When the smoke started to clear, Yahiko dashed right out and gave Ikaruga a big boot to her chest, launching her back now. "And then there was one…" Yahiko's sight drew towards Asuka who quickly drew her one sword, the other one still in Yahiko's right arm. "Heh, you know…" Yahiko walked far enough so he was right in front of Asuka, "You actually look cute. Maybe I should take you back with me and my boys…"

"N-No…" Asuka trembled.

No one knew how it transpired, but what everyone saw in the end was that Toru delivered a good kick right into Yahiko's face, making him slide back away from Asuka. Still really sore from taking one of Yahiko's hits earlier, Toru immediately took a knee. "Toru!" Asuka kneeled down, placing her hands on his shoulders. A looming shadow soon fell over the both of them with Yahiko standing over them, more pissed then ever as some blood trailed out from his lips, "You shouldn't have done that…" Asuka tried stabbing up at Yahiko with her last sword only for him to dodge back following up with gripping Asuka's face with his left hand and throwing her back hard into a tree. "I'll kill you first, boy…" Gripping onto Toru's neck with his right hand, Yahiko lifted him up into the air and started to squeeze his grip, slowly crushing Toru's airways as he tries to gasp out for air through the pain he was feeling. "T-Toru…!" Asuka tried to get up, but she was in too much pain to move quickly.

"Hehehehe…he must've been wrong about you…" Yahiko said, looking into Toru's magenta irises. "You don't seem like anything…"

Using the last of his strength, Toru threw his left hand up onto the blade of Asuka's sword that was still stabbed into Yahiko's arm, "How cute. He's still trying to resist." Yahiko smirked, gripping ever so harder around Toru's neck. Toru's breathing starting to slow as the imminent demise seemed to be approaching.

"…H-Hidden…Nin…po…" Asuka quickly looked up, shocked, to hear Toru speak for the first time as his left hand started to spark. Yahiko looked at Toru's hand, "Wh-What the-"

"RAIKA!" Toru screamed out as his left hand was engulfed in black lightning. With this hand on the sword, it was used as a conduit to bypass Yahiko's Earth Defense to electrocute him from the inside, making him yell out in great pain until his grip released Toru's neck with both of them falling to the ground. The entire time, Yahiko's grunts were watching from the side and when their boss went down they all ran over to their singed leader and all at once picked him up, "Heave ho!" They all yelled before running out in a full retreat, much to Homura's dismay, "You bastards, get the hell back here!"

"You do know we get paid either way, right Homura?" Hikage reminded.

"Toru. Toru are you ok?" Asuka held up Toru in her arms, shaking him to try and wake him up as the other girls ran over, worried. "Toru come on, please!" Responding to her voice, Toru started to open his eyes, regaining consciousness, before looking up at Asuka to give her a small smile and a thumb's up. Sighing out, Asuka smiled back, "Thank goodness. It seems you passed my lesson without my help."


	8. Chapter 8: Who is He?

Chapter 8: Who Is He?

"Ikaruga, aren't you the least bit concerned about what that guy said?" Yagyu lashed out.

"Now is not the time for this Yagyu. Toru is resting after almost being killed out there." Ikaruga argued back.

"But you heard it too! "I get to massacre Three Evil Shinobis", those were that man's exact words. As far as we knew, the only three people down there at that moment were Homura, Hikage, and Toru, and we knew for sure that two of them were definitely Evil." Yagyu continued.

"Look, we can't know for sure until we've talked about this with Kiriya-sensei, and at the moment, he's still out on his mission. So as of right, as Class Representative, I say we put a hold on this conversation." Ikaruga stood firm.

"Ugh! Dammit, Ikaruga, I don't understand how you can be so stubborn to a dangerous truth!" Yagyu glared her friend down.

"Because as far as I know, this boy that you're doubting right now has saved Asuka's life!" Ikaruga's final words silenced Yagyu as her mouth shut tight and she backed off. In the side room, Asuka was kneeled down, watching over Toru as she was listening to the girls argue outside. Toru was laying back with his head on a pillow, a wool blanket pulled to over his neck, and a wet towel placed on his forehead. "Nnnnn…" Asuka's eyes widened as she heard Toru groan and his eyes slowly opening. As soon as he tried to get up, Asuka laid him back down, "Don't move. You used up a lot of energy during the fight. I guess that's what happens when you use a Hidden Ninpo without first transforming." Asuka smiled some, trying to lighten the mood.

"…I'm fine…" Asuka almost fell over in shock, "T-Toru, did you just talk?!" Toru looked back at Asuka, not saying anything in response. Asuka shook her head, "A-Anyway, please. You have to rest for a while."

"I said I'm fine…" Toru responded again as he slowly got to his feet, "See?" He wobbled slightly, but eventually caught himself, making Asuka laugh lightly, "Well, if you say so. But as soon as I notice a difference in your behavior, you're coming right back."

"O-Okay…" His voice sounded really raspy, almost horse-like. Then again, if you haven't talked for years, yourself, your own voice would probably sound a bit rusty. "Listen, me and the girls are going to my grandfather's futomaki stand. And you can't say no this time." Asuka winked at Toru making him back up slightly and pout. With Asuka opening up the door, the girls were shocked to see that Toru is already up. "Toru, are you okay?!" Hibari yelled out.

"Shouldn't you be resting?" Ikaruga notioned.

"Everyone…" Toru said, making the room go silent before all of the other girls jumped back and yelled in shock, "What?! D-Did Toru just say something?!" Katsuragi tried to check with everyone else. This made Toru laugh lightly, "And he can laugh?!" Katsuragi continued.

"Oh, come on guys, ease up on him a bit." Asuka giggled alongside Toru, "Young, Mr. Shinobi believes he's ok so we're going to take him out to grandfather's place for some futomaki."

"Alright!" Everyone yelled.

The group were out on the streets, walking about, as the sun was starting to set over the buildings' rooftop lines while Asuka and Toru were prattling about behind the group. "You know, Toru…If you didn't do what you did, we might've been in big trouble? Actually, maybe big trouble is a little bit soft for the reality of the situation." Asuka giggled holding one of her arms.

"Y-Yeah…?" Toru struggled out, his voice still being a little bit of an obstacle. Asuka then wrapped an arm around Toru and pulled him in to ruffle his hair, "Haha, of course, silly~! Thanks for that save. Homura and Hikage were rather thankful for your save."

"Really…?" Toru looked up at her.

"No, but I knew Homura was thinking it." She poked Toru's nose lightly, making him chuckle some. "Oh! Here we are!" Asuka called out as the group stopped in front of a small, halfway curtained sitting area with a bar top. Standing behind it was none other than Asuka's grandfather, Hanzo, the bushy moustached, long grey bearded, shinobi of legend. "Grandpaaaaa!"

"Asuka, haha, come on in! I thought you guys would be around so I made some fresh futomaki rolls for you all." Hanzo was in the back of the joint as the steam and smell from all of his food filtered out into the sitting area and right on outside. Asuka saved a seat between her and Ikaruga for Toru to sit down in as he happily plopped himself down, actually feeling a little hungry himself. "Well then! Who's hungry!?" Hanzo finally stepped out with a plate of futomaki rolls, "I got all of your fav-" His speech stopped once him and Toru's eyes met. "Oh…" Hanzo slowly backed up some.

"Grandpa?" Asuka noticed this as she looked back to Toru who was just staring at Hanzo with a blank, expressionless look on his face. "T-Toru? Toru are you ok?" Asuka placed her hand on his shoulder only for Toru's entire nerves to stand on before bolting right out of the seating areas curtains and out into the street. "TORU!" Asuka yelled out before chasing after the fleeing boy.

"Katsuragi! Take the others and get ahold of Kiriya-sensei! Tell him it's an emergency!" Ikaruga ordered.

"R-Right!" Katsuragi, Hibari, and Yagyu ran on out while Ikaruga chased after the other two.

"Toru! Toru please stop! Wait!" Toru turned around a corner only for Asuka to follow around and meet the sight of a sharp Kusarigama coming at her. She dodged quickly only to look back over to a now, extremely frightened Toru. "Toru…" Asuka tried to walk towards him, but every step she took, he took a step.

"M-Monster…" Toru muttered as it sounded like he was losing his voice.

"Wh-What?!" Asuka reeled back in shock.

"I-Iga…Iga monster!" Toru threw his chains from the Kusarigama to the side as he ran off, leaving a rather confused and surprised Asuka behind.

Ikaruga, once finally catching up to Asuka, found Asuka kneeling on the ground with the shocked expression still looming on her. Before long, Ikaruga would help her friend back to the school after hearing that Kiriya-sensei finally returned to the school. "So…you lost him." Kiriya mumbled, keeping his back turned to the group as Asuka was seated down with Ikaruga trying to comfort the thoughts of Toru attacking Asuka out of her mind.

"Sensei, do you know where he went?" Katsuragi asked.

"My guess, back to his house." Kiriya said rather confidently.

"Wait, what?" Katsuragi leaned over, feeling as if she didn't hear that right.

"He may be a Shinobi, Katsuragi, but he is still a boy." Kiriya answered. "To be honest though…I should've informed you all about him, but I was strictly asked by his mother to keep his lineage a secret as best as I could. But now…I feel like I have no reason to hide this from you all now."

"You mean the reason why he attacked me?..." Asuka looked up at Kiriya almost on the verge of crying. Kiriya turned around to look at Asuka only to sigh after seeing how she looked, "Asuka…do you know about the ninja clan of which you belong to?"

"Th-The Iga clan, sir." Asuka answered. It was pretty much her Shinobi lineage. How could she not know it?

"Yes, the clan of Shinobis that served the great, Tokugawa Shogunate back during the Feudal eras of Japan." Kiriya turned back around to look out a window. "The finest clan of all Good Shinobi…but for every finest group, there is a sinister one waiting to strike…"

"S-Sensei?" Asuka stood up now.

"Asuka…what do you know of the Fuuma ninjas?" Kiriya asked, still keeping his back turned.

"…Fuuma…?" Asuka tried to recollect her memories, but she was drawing a blank.

"Where the Iga ninjas were the best of the Good, the Fuuma ninjas were the best of the Evil." Kiriya sighed out. "Yet…no one could've foretold, back then, what horrors the Iga ninja would do to try and stop the lineage of Evil Shinobi. One night, ten years ago, the Iga ninjas staged an attack on the Fuuma Village that has been hidden for so long. They have been given an anonymous tip and the current head of the Iga clan, your grandpa's brother, was the one who planned the full annihilation of that village."

The room grew cold as Asuka's mouth slowly dropped, "Wh-What? No, m-my family would never-"

"Don't be so naïve, Asuka…you have no idea what lengths people would go through to deliver "Justice"…hah…I remembered when that word used to have a meaning." Kiriya chuckled slightly.

"But why…why are you telling me this?" Asuka was trembling.

"Your grandfather objected to this massacre, of course, but he couldn't stop his brother's decision. Taking it upon himself, sir Hanzo was only able to rescue one family from the Fuuma village. A man, his wife…and their son, who was only four years old when that event happened…as he watched the Iga clan slaughter his own clansmen."

"….No…" Asuka finally connected the dots.

"Toru…is one of the last remaining Fuuma Ninjas…a boy who has been born into the world of Evil Shinobis…"


	9. Chapter 9: Gama and Okami

Chapter 9: Gama and Okami

Asuka was by herself when she was walking through the secret hallway to the ninja classroom. She looked exhausted as she couldn't get a wink of sleep last night, being extremely guilty about Toru. In her thoughts, his voice would echo out what he said to her from the night before. "I-Iga…Iga monster!" Every time Asuka heard that, she flinched, "Why…why did something like that have to happen…?" When coming into the room, Asuka was the first to arrive, but was a little surprised as to who was there, besides Kiriya. Sitting with Kiriya at his desk was a woman with flowing, purple hair wearing a white dress with a purple, cloth, rib-rimmed jacket over top of it. Right next to her Toru was sitting, looking down. It immediately dawned upon Asuka who this woman was. "M-Mrs. Fuuma." Asuka immediately bowed to her as she held her hand out slightly, "N-No, please. I have abandoned that surname long ago with my husband. As far as I know, the Fuuma clan is dead. Please, call me Mrs. Taaki." Taaki introduced herself. When Asuka looked over, she saw Toru was staring at her, but immediately looked away when she noticed him.

"I'm guessing you're the Iga girl?" Taaki stood up, walking over towards Asuka, who was immediately breaking as she got on her knees and bowed her head down, "I'm so sorry! K-Kiriya told me everything! I didn't know I swear!" Asuka was bawling out tears, feeling so overpowered by guilt just through the presence of this woman. "Please…" Taaki's hands were on Asuka's hands, "Stand up, granddaughter of Hanzo." Asuka looked up with a tear-soaked face at a now smiling Taaki, who helped Asuka back up to her feet. "You may be a part of the Iga clan, but you're the relative of the one who basically saved me and my family from the same fate my clansmen met. For that," She glared over at Toru who immediately yelped and looked away with wide eyes. "You have nothing to be guilty of." Taaki looked back at Asuka, returning to her calm expression. "Toru is still a very young boy. Good and Evil is still a very Black and White concept to him. It's something that I hope he'll soon grow out of while attending here."

"S-So…Toru will still be attending Hanzo still?" Taaki nodded at Asuka's question, making it feel like a an anvil was finally untied from Asuka's heart, but she wondered if the emotional scars were still on Toru. After all, seeing a massacre at the age of four…those were definitely big scars.

"Asuka, do you think you and Toru can wait outside while me and Taaki finish out conversation?" Kiriya requested as Asuka started to feel heavy again. Surprised, she saw Toru immediately heading on out of the room. Before leaving with him, herself, Asuka bowed to Taaki and her teacher.

Immediately after Asuka left the room and closed the door, a letter was held right up to her by Toru. "Eh…!" She could see the shadows looming over his eyes, making her slowly take the letter and open it up.

\- Asuka,

My mother wanted me to write a letter of apology to you after the way how I acted yesterday. She told me that it was your grandfather, Hanzo, who saved my family from being annihilated on the night of the Fuuma massacre. For that I am very grateful for your grandfather's bravery and I will always look up to him for that. -

Asuka was smiling brightly, but another note was held in front of her again by Toru. This time though, an emotionless glare was set onto Asuka by Toru, making her take the note hesitantly.

\- But…that doesn't mean his good will is carried through to his relatives. You may be the granddaughter of the one who saved my parents and me, but you're also the grandniece of the one who had the rest of my clan slaughtered. As far as I know, you're an Iga ninja who knows about my identity as a Fuuma ninja, and now you know about my mother too, making it harder for me to trust you in keeping this a secret. Because, how would I know that you won't end up having this slip out to your other family members? How will I know that your disgusting granduncle will not eventually hear about this and come to finish the job? That's the thing…I don't. As far as I know, my mother trusts you…but know that this doesn't mean I do… -

Asuka's hands were trembling and gripping tightly onto the paper as she read it with Toru's back being facing to her. Indeed, these scars ran deep. The classroom door opened up behind them as Taaki walked out, seeing the two shinobis before her. "Ah, I see you received his apology letter." Taaki smiled as Asuka was hiding Toru's extra letter behind her, "Y-Yes. Your son was very clear in the words he spoke." Asuka truthfully lied trying her best to keep her usual smile. "Well, I'm going to take Toru back home with me. Hopefully a day away from school can clear his mind." Taaki smiled as she walked away, but when she got to Toru, her back was also turned, "Know this, Asuka…" Taaki's voice seemed to have gone a little cold. "I trust you, but only because I trust your grandfather and that you're my son's classmate…do not make me regret it." Taaki looked back at Asuka with the same, expressionless glare that Toru gave her, making Asuka feel like her soul was being dragged out of her body by just those eyes of Taaki's. Taaki turned back around as her and Toru started to walk now.

"Mrs. Taaki!" Taaki looked back, her eyes widening at what she was looking at. Asuka was bowing, a full ninety degree, towards Taaki and Toru. "I promise! I promise I won't do anything to hurt your family! After the week that your son has been here, I know he's a good boy! I promise I would never do anything to jeopardize his life! And if I happen to, I swear I'll die as recompense!" She screamed out, making Toru look at her in sheer awe as the bright smile returned back to Taaki's face, "You really are his granddaughter." Asuka looked up from Taaki's comment, seeing the two walk away.


End file.
